- Studied justice and found that it wasn't possible to solve questions of value through rational (logical) means
- Examined how different people reason about values with Olbrechts-Tyteca
- Looked back to Aristotle (dialectics and rhetorical reasoning, epideictic speech) and the Talmud
- Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca created a "New Rhetoric" to examine and operationalize the principles governing informal argumentation (which is predicated on value positions)
- The New Rhetoric:
- Audience
- Argumentations success depends on the engagement of the audience. There needs to be a meeting and engagement of minds to have argumentation.
- Universal audience idealized; could be anyone competent and reasonable.
- Particular audience is who the argument is directed at, though they do not have to be reasonable.
- Starting points of argumentation
- Points dealing with reality
- Facts, truth, and persumptions are all things that are agreed on by the universal audience. These starting points are believed by the audience to exist in reality.
- Facts are categorized by objects that already are agreed to by the universal audience.
- Truths refer to broader princple that connects facts together.
- Presumptions enjoy universal agreement; but they can be argued because if you think or prove something is normally true then you presume that it would bet true in most situations. So, once you disprove that then the same persumption stands.
- Points dealing with the preferable
- Values hold only the adherence of particular audiences. Because different audiences have different values, they don’t apply to the universal audience. As soon as values are applied to specific cases, they don’t always hold true anymore
- Abstract values are not attached to a specific person or institution (Ex.: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness)
- Concrete values are attached to a specific person, institution, or object (Ex.: applying idea of life to a specific person)
- Hierarchies are values are arranged in terms of importance. They can also be concrete or abstract.
- Homogeneous values differ only in degree (Ex.: serious illness vs. mild illness).
- Heterogeneous values differ in kind (Ex.: honesty and kindness).
- Loci of the preferable are general headings that show how value hierarchies can be organized. Has 6 categories: quantity, quality, order, existent, essence, and person.
- General are affirmations that are assumed to be of higher value regardless of the situation
- Special concern was is preferable in a specific situation; vary and change
- Presence is calling your topic (does not have to be concrete; can be abstract) to the forefront of the discussion or argument.
- Helps audience determine what is the most important.
- The most important topics will have the most presence, the least important topics will have the least presence.
- Presence can be used to articulate the importance of something not in the immediate vicinity.
- Communion: establishing commonalities or identifying with the audience. P&OT say that the better the communion, the better the audience will adhere to your argument.
- “The core of many arguments is formed of this play of innumerable interpretations and of the struggle to impose some of them and get rid of others. Argumentation may succeed or fail depending on how successfully the speaker chooses presentation techniques to achieve presence or communion.” (CITATION?)
- Techniques of argumentation
- Liaison "allows for the transference to the conclusion of the adherence accorded the premises." (pg 97) In other words a liaison is a way to establish a bond between your starting point and your thesis. Ties into presence and how you want to begin with appeal to the audience and then move towards your point.
- Quasi-logical arguments appear similar to formal arguments, but involve premises that are based on value judgements
- Arguments based on the structure of reality make connections between accepted structures of reality (causal argument, pragmatic argument).
- Arguments that establish the structure of reality
- Example, illustration, or model
- Analogy or metaphor
- Dissociation is taking a single concept or idea and splitting it into two independent, but related, concepts. This is used to avoid incompatibility. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca classify term I (the lesser of the two concepts) as appearance and term II (the greater of the two concepts) as reality. A technique called reversal which reverses the value of the real over what is actually possible (see page 104). The second dissociative technique is called paradox in which the line between appearance and reality becomes blurred, resulting in skepticism.
- Interaction of arguments: Depending on the audience and presentation, amplitude (or lack of amplitude) can supplement or reduce credibility in an argument. Order is also of great importance in argument and it too depends upon the audience and the situation itself for how and when to bring up certain parts of the argument (thesis, viewpoints, etc).
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